# Best Pazz & Jop Critics Poll Album 1988 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 7, 2014, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1988/706584 "2014-12-07T17:45:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1988/706584/1 "2014-12-07T17:45:23Z")
A bit of a letdown after some truly stellar lists - once again, I agree with the critics this year and am voting for the #1 choice. I was also a big fan of the Midnight Oil and Pere Ubu albums here (ETA: And Sonic Youth - missed them when I was initially going over the list). Personal quibble: where the hell have The Go-Betweens been on these lists? I thought for sure they’d make it this year. Oh, well. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1988/706584/2 "2014-12-07T18:02:03Z")
Public Enemy - no question. One of the best albums ever. Trinity Sessions is surprising durable for being so atmospheric. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1988/706584/3 "2014-12-07T18:02:29Z")
I’m with #1 and #2 where the are. The rest I may move around, probably bumping up Midnight Oil a spot to #3. The rest I’d have to think about. ---
**Author:** ![Eddie\_F](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/22d042/32.png) [@Eddie\_F](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eddie_F)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1988/706584/4 "2014-12-07T18:09:59Z")
It’s gratifying to see P.E. in the lead, because there is no album (certainly not _Daydream Nation_, sorry) on this list that is worthy of even holding _It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back_’s cup. Well, okay, I exaggerate but a little: _Diesel and Dust_ is worthy of giving Public Enemy’s flat out masterpiece a good back rub (maybe even a spirited handjob?). ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1988/706584/5 "2014-12-07T18:25:31Z")
Well, **Eddie F.** and I already disagreed on DN in the thread about last year. The Public Enemy record is the closest I’d hold to _Daydream Nation_. They’re both amazing, but as a guitarist/bassist, I gravitate toward the Sonic Youth record more. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1988/706584/6 "2014-12-07T18:31:42Z")
Tracy Chapman. ---
**Author:** ![Purd\_Werfect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47c2d/32.png) [@Purd\_Werfect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purd_Werfect)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1988/706584/7 "2014-12-07T20:32:26Z")
I thought Daydream Nation was a pretty strong release, but the PE album wipes out anything else here. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1988/706584/8 "2014-12-07T21:18:49Z")
The Wilburys album was the soundtrack for meeting and getting to know my wife, the beginning of our romance, and the quick and sudden awareness that this was the proverbial ‘it’, that my days of looking were over. Going to the end of the line, indeed. Easy choice. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1988/706584/9 "2014-12-07T21:24:13Z")
Don’t laugh but I went with Was(Not Was). From this list could have went with Midnight Oil. Ideally from 1988 I would have went for Guns N Roses or George Michael. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1988/706584/10 "2014-12-07T22:01:20Z")
Gotta go with Ornette Coleman. It’s nice to see him finally appear on these lists, after being ignored in favor of Dave Holland, Sun Ra, Eric Dolphy, Cecil Taylor, Elvin Jones, and all the other free jazz musicians that dominate this thing, year in and year out. Oh, I meant I voted for Sonic Youth, _Daydream Nation_. What was I thinking? ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2014, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1988/706584/11 "2014-12-07T22:40:36Z")
I’ve been listening to _Daydream Nation_ off and on for almost 25 years. There aren’t many albums I can say that about. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2014, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-pazz-jop-critics-poll-album-1988/706584/12 "2014-12-08T00:25:25Z")
Sonic Youth two years in a row. Public Enemy pretty arguably has the more important album, but I just don’t listen to it much anymore. Honorable mention to Pere Ubu, reborn with _The Tenement Years_.